Federal judge grants Roof's request for new counsel in appeal

Dylann Roof entered a Charleston courtroom earlier this month to plead guilty to state charges in the Charleston church shooting. (Source: Pool)

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) -

A judge granted a request for new defense counsel for the man convicted on federal charges in the 2015 Charleston church shooting.

Dylann Roof was sentenced to death in January in connection with the shooting deaths of nine parishioners of Mother Emanuel AME Church on June 17, 2015.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel granted a motion by Roof to replace his trial attorneys, David Bruck, Kimberly Stevens and Emily Paavola, effective when Roof files a notice of appeal.

The trial attorneys will be replaced by attorneys of the Federal Defender Offices for the Central Districts of California and Maryland, court documents state.

Roof told a court-appointed psychologist during a competency exam he felt his trial attorneys had tricked and manipulated him, adding that if he ever got out of prison, he would kill Bruck, according to a competency evaluation report.